Kuromomo
by Tsa Ra Vier
Summary: It was all similar to the story until Momo decided to join Kuroseimei. An Onmyouji game fanfiction.


When Sakura says she was going to be married, Momo did not know what to say. An union between a youkai and a human surely is forbidden. It will never last. Human's life was so fleeting. In a blink of an eye they will die leaving their almost immortal lover griefing for eternity. Honestly, what does she sees in him ?

Still, even with her warnings she went with him. Momo should be happy. She was Sakura's best friend after all. She should smile at her wedding day, blessing their marriage and wishing for their eternal union. Yet why? She ended up crying in the edge of the spring forest. Unable to hold her tears, she tried her best not to let the forest hear her grief. One day, the mortal will die. Her friend will slowly loses herself to grief and even before then, what will she become? No. Not even that. She knew what troubles her heart more.

It was not for Sakura's sake. She was only thinking about her well-being. Sakura is married. She will now live her own life with her husband. They will perhaps make a family of their own. Sakura will be happy but she will not be. She will be all alone.

Momo knew there will no place in Sakura's heart for her. Not in the form that she wanted. Sakura can say all she wanted about them being best friends. The peach's heart says otherwise. She wanted to be more than her trusted friend. If only it was possible.

Sakura would smile to her. She will say that her tears were just a result of her childishness. She has yet to understand the maturity of love and the risk of losing it all. If Sakura would just came to her and said that, perhaps she would have listened. She would have stayed.

"Why on earth would you be crying?" a voice, so haughty and arrogant broke her tears.

"These were of course tears of joy!" Momo replied hastily. "My best friend is getting married and I was just preparing myself to give her well wishes. Parting is both joyful and painful you see… That is why… " her tears would not stop flowing.

"I see." the voice replied. "In that case hurry up and say it to her. She must have been looking for you right about now. Be done with it and the doubt in your heart will disappear. There is nothing else you can do in this case."

The voice made sense. There is no use crying over things she could not have prevented. It was Sakura's heart that chooses him no matter how sad Momo's heart is. There is no use on dwelling in self pity or crying over her safety in facade of her own. She is Sakura's best friend. She has to watch over her and hand her over to the best man Sakura has chosen for herself.

Her mind felt clearer now.

"Thank you." she said to the voice. "I will attend her wedding now. She deserved to be happy even if I do not agree with her choices."

"Do you now?"

Momo nodded. "Marriage between our kind and a mortal is a terrible idea. I have been watching over her all this time and helped her all the time but the matters of the heart is out of my hands. After this marriage...she no longer needs me. But it is fine. I want her to be happy."

She went back to the ceremonial reception with a bouquet of flowers. She wished her well, smiled, and danced for her and her husband. It was not such a bad experience after the clouded thoughts in her heart was gone. She was glad that someone was there to give her a second opinion. She has to thank him after the celebration was finished.

* * *

Momo went back to the edge of the spring forest hoping to find him. It took her several tries before finding him near the maple forest. She could never stand maple forest. The smell of autumn is odd for her but recently it also smells off. She found more rotting flesh and meat covered in the sickly tree that grows there. It brought shivers to her spine to know that some creatures live there.

"Hello!" She waved at him. She could not get his appearance at first glance. She only remembers his voice and how he was dressed in all black. She was quite sure it was him though.

"Ah. You reek of blood Onmyouji-sama!" she commented.

The same voice she heard was ringing in her head. She did not understand why it did so.

"It must have been the forest." the voice said.

Momo understood immediately. The maple forest's dark scent must have rubbed into the Onmyouji's clothes.

"I wanted to thank you for earlier. Without your advice I would not even be on the wedding." Momo bowed.

The Black Onmyouji opened his mouth. The voice that came out was less powerful than the ones ringing on her head. "You are not needed by her anymore."

Momo nodded. She had to admit that her task of being Sakura's aide has been over since she was married now. She did not care what will happen to her in the future. Sakura is happy. That was all that matters.

"Come follow me." he commanded as he left.

Momo did not understand why she did as she told. She followed the dark onmyouji away from her forest. Silently, she whispered a parting to Sakura.

* * *

She never went this deep through the mountains. The dark energy usually made her faint. The Onmyouji seemed to cast a protection spell around them two. The lesser imps attacks seemed to be absorbed by some sort of barrier he casted. He must have been a really strong Onmyouji, she thought.

They arrived at a large house beneath a purple glade. Momo could felt more than one pair of eyes were gazing upon them. Her skin felt cold faster than her mind could register the fear. Unconsciously the peach child held the hem of the black Onmyouji's clothing.

"Kuroseimei-sama!"

A black winged angel came and greeted them. His face was less scarier than most eyes gazing. Momo felt relieved when the angel came and bowed. The eyes that were watching them seemed to lessened.

"Ootengu. This is Momo. She will be staying with us from now on." the Onmyouji named Kuroseimei said.

Ootengu seemed to look at her from head to toe before nodding in aggreement. "Understood. I will prepare a quarter for her."

"No need. I need you for something else. Get Yuki Onna to show her around." Kuroseimei said and walked away. Momo almost reached out to him when a cold hand grabbed her from behind.

"Follow me." the cold woman said.

Momo followed her instead. Taking a few glances on the dark onmyouji and the Ootengu that walked beside him.

Yuki Onna spoke no word to the peach fairy as they walked on the hallway. Her element is ice and snow of course but was it too much to ask her to be less...cold?

"Here. Your room. You are free to roam wherever you want. Master Kuroseimei is not here to confine you." the ice cold lady said blandly.

Momo took a look around her room. Aside the terrible view, the room was quite tasteful. It has a classic styled tatami and several potted plants. It was quite homely even. Momo took one of the cushion to sit down nervously. Yuki Onna chuckled.

"No need to be too timid. We will be working together from now on after all."

Momo gasped.

Did she just smiled?

* * *

Kuroseimei's residence was...surprisingly lively. The creatures that lived inside looks menacing ad scary of course. Parasite for example, he is big, red and bulky. His armor also looks like he was a formidable enemy. Nobody will ever see them apologize when they bumped into her. She could not help but smile.

The imps from before was seen cooking miso soup, arguing whether they had put too much or too less bean paste. Yuki Onna was tasting them to see.

The garden was generally barren aside from a large cherry tree in the middle. The tree reminded her on her best friend Sakura. She hoped she is happy right now. Momo made friends with the fox lady who tends to hang around on the tree. Mio was her name. She said she had bittersweet memories on a lover of some sorts under the cherry tree and insisted on getting one planted here as a reminder.

Momo did not know her presence was rejoiced when she made some of the plants bloom. They said it has been ages since someone ate a fresh fruit from the garden.

Aaa

There are two types of shikis in the household. The ones that likes to eat together and the ones that likes to eat in their own room. Yuki Onna and Ootengu seems to like gatherings more while Mio tends to eat alone under her tree. Kuroseimei seems to be the latter. Momo saw Yuki Onna brought food to his room.

"So… what other fruits can you grow ?" Ootengu struck the conversation first.

Momo gulped. "Ehh? I cannot actually grow anything aside from peach blossoms. What I was doing was just restoring the tree's health so they can do their best to bear fruit…" she shied.

"So you are a healer ?" Ootengu hummed. "We needed that, don't we ?" he laughed.

The crowd cheered.

"All these idiots were fighters. We always ended up bruised after long battle and patching each other up." Yuki Onna commented lightly. "Especially this one."

Ootengu scoffed. "At least my attacks were fast enough that we would not need a healer!"

The crowd boos and cheers consecutively.

"Momo. The master wants to speak with you." Mio cut the conversation casually and took Momo's hand. The peach fairy yelped as she was brought out of the mass dining room.

"Come back soon!" Ootengu cried.

"With the diamond taken away from the rough, all that is left is the rough…" Yuki Onna commented.

"YOU SAID I'M RUBBISH ?!"

The crowd went noisy once more.

* * *

Momo could not help but giggled. The evening has been surprisingly eventful for her. There are a lot of unexpected parting and meeting which she both cherish and grieved.

Mio opened the sliding door for her. The peach fairy saw Kuroseimei in the middle if the room. He was sitting still as if he was in a trance. The moon behind his back obscured his face and casted a long shadow on him.

Momo stepped forward and slowly sat down without making a noise, afraid she would disturb him.

"Momo no Sei" he spoke.

"Y-yes?" she stuttered.

"Did you enjoy your stay so far ?" he asked without moving.

Momo thought for a while. She did enjoyed being here so far but one day is not enough to know. She does not have anywhere else to go in mind as well.

"I.. do not know. It was alright so far." she replied shyly.

Kuroseimei sighed.

"I also believed, that humans and spirit should not become one. Humans are foolish creatures, greedy and arrogant. You will have to experience it in your own to see what I meant." he said.

Momo nodded. What he says does makes sense. It was strange to harbour such hatred inside her heart but it was something she had felt even though she hid deep inside her.

"You can go anywhere you want if you do not wish to follow me. I will say this now, Momo. We needed your power to fulfill our ambitions, but I have to see if your vision would align with ours." Kuroseimei pulled out a violet jade necklace and gave them to Momo. "Join us and seek the answer to your confusion."

Momo hesitantly took the jade necklace. She immediately could feel that it was infused with a spirit, making her stronger.

"My...confusion?" she questioned.

"You were still hesitant whether you are making the right choice. It was apparent again in your heart. You need to discard the doubt and stare straight into your heart and see what it desires." he said.

"How do I do that ?" Momo asked suddenly.

Kuroseimei shrugged. "I don't know. I just followed mine."

Momo frowned. It seems that her heart is much more complicated than she thought. "I… I just wanted to see how much your words are true…"

The dark onmyouji laughed.

"Fair enough."

Momo blinked in confusion.

"I will be going to town tomorrow. You can follow me if you like." he said.

Momo nodded in excitement. It seem like she would be having a nice field trip after all that has happened. She started to wonder if she should pack a lot of food or make some peach rice cakes for snacks.

"It is not a picnic trip." Kuroseimei bursted her bubble thought.

Momo frowned once more.


End file.
